"Once upon a time the plural of 'wizard' was 'war'."

http://i.imgur.com/NXLGaCS.png

I came across this quote from the sadly late Terry Pratchett, and was reminded of at least the pre-retcon Rune Wars lore:

And Unseen University, as even wizards realized at somewhere just below the top level of their minds, existed not to further magic but, in a very creative way, to suppress it. The world had seen what happened when wizards got their hands on enormous amounts of magical power. It had happened a long time ago and there were still some areas where you didn't go, if you wanted to walk out on the same kind of feet that you'd had when you went in.

Once upon a time the plural of "wizard" was "war".

It continues with a bit that sounds an awful lot like the League:

But the great, […] ingenious purpose of UU was to be the weight on the arm of magic, causing it to swing with grave majesty like a pendulum rather than spin with deadly purpose like a morningstar. Instead of hurling fireballs at one another from fortified towers the wizards learned to snipe at their colleagues over the interpretation of Faculty Council minutes, and long ago were amazed to find that they got just as much vicious fun out of it. They consumed big dinners, and after a really good meal and a fine cigar even the most rabid Dark Lord is inclined to put his feet up and feel amicable towards the world, especially if it's offering him another brandy. And slowly, and by degrees, they absorbed the most important magical power of all, which is the one that persuades you to stop using all the others.

Ryze's new background pleased me (despite the unconscionable omission of torrid, awkward sex scenes from the original) not only by sticking to his basic concept but also by suggesting that the new lore will also have some version of the Rune Wars.

I always did like that aspect of League's lore, the idea of "magical WMDs" that pose an interesting collective action dilemma. Every time you use rune magic, you risk indiscriminate mass destruction, but if you don't use it, your enemy might, and then they'll probably win. In a way, it's more nefarious than nuclear weapons. Everyone knew that a nuclear exchange would glass the planet; with rune spells, there was a random element. Threatening to blow up the entire planet to kill your enemy is not often a credible threat, because it's obviously self-defeating. But threatening to roll the dice on blowing up the planet, well, that's somewhat credible.